


And Back Again

by Duck_Life



Category: X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: Gen, Hugs, Resurrection, Reunions, Speculation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-13
Updated: 2017-11-13
Packaged: 2019-02-01 22:30:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12714120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Duck_Life/pseuds/Duck_Life
Summary: Some Jean reunions.





	And Back Again

**Author's Note:**

> This is actually part of a fic I wrote back in 2014 that never really got anywhere. But now that I'm all excited about Jean coming back, FOR REAL, I decided to edit/update this and post it here. Enjoy!

Jean rings the doorbell, and for a long, agonizing moment she’s sure no one will answer. Hell, maybe everyone’s dead. She’s seen and heard enough of terrible futures; she might not even be surprised.

Soon enough, though, she can hear footsteps hurrying toward the big doors of the latest iteration of the school for gifted youngsters. There’s a creak. The doors open.

And there’s Bobby Drake, sheathed in ice and wearing a pair of awful cargo shorts, looking surprised at the thought of a visitor before he even sees who she is.

“Hey,” she chokes out, swamped suddenly both my emotion and the  _ bizarreness  _ of her showing up here after so long. 

Bobby reacts immediately and defensively, settling into a fighting stance and pulling back an arm like he’s aiming at her, like Jean’s about the become the next Captain America.

“Bobby, it’s me,” she says at the same time he yells, “Who the hell are you?”

Bobby’s yelling must have alerted the others, because soon enough she hears more footsteps. She could communicate to him telepathically that she really is Jean Grey, but she guesses that using her powers would only agitate the situation.

“I don’t know what right you think you have showing up here looking like that,” Bobby spits out quickly, harshly. “ _ Who are you _ ?”

“Bobby,” she says, suddenly stern, “calm down, you’re dripping on the floor.” And there it is— the classic, familiar mom-friend mentality.

“ _ Jean _ ?” All the tension and aggression leave him, replaced by shock. “Oh my God. Oh my God, it’s really you.”

“I  _ told _ you,” she says, but it comes off too irritated. She’s happy to see him. She’s so, so goddamn happy to see him, to see the school, to be alive. “Bobby,” she tries again.

“Oh my God,” is all he says. “ _ Ororo!  _ ORORO.”

But before Ororo can show up, two others run into the foyer—  one of them a violet-haired woman already in pajamas ( _ Betsy _ , Jean thinks, affection warring with confusion and worry at how her teammates, her  _ friends _ , will react to her), the other a young woman with short red hair.

_ Rachel _ .

Without even thinking, Jean’s elbowing her way past Bobby and heading straight for her daughter. Betsy, who didn’t get a good look at the woman standing outside the door, tries to intervene, but Jean doesn’t even seem to notice as she pushes her out of the way.

Rachel—  well, “looks like she’s seen a ghost” isn’t the right phrase. She  _ has _ . “ _ Mom _ ?” she says, completely taken by surprise, and then Jean’s pulling her into a tight hug and Rachel can’t help but respond, curling her arms tightly around the mother she thought she lost.

Behind the reunited mother and daughter, Bobby shoots a wondering glance at Betsy. She doesn’t even need to read his mind to know what he’s asking.

“I can read her,” she says quietly. “And it is her. It’s Jean. She’s back.”

When Jean steps back from hugging Rachel, who looks completely at a loss for words, Ororo finally catches up with the rest of them. She stands, frozen, behind Bobby and Betsy, eyes locked on Jean.

“’Ro?” Jean says, looking exhausted but delighted. Ororo fixes her with an icy stare and then turns on one heel and disappears back into the recesses of the school, leaving Jean and the others stunned.

“I’ll,” says Rachel, beginning to go after Storm, but Jean throws an arm out and stops her.

“No,” she says. “I’ll go talk to her.”

The school is different, new, but it isn’t hard for her to find Ororo’s room. The air around it is noticeably chilled. Jean knocks on the door. “Ororo?” No response. “Ororo, it’s—  I swear, it’s really me. ’Ro, please open the door.” She inhales, shaky. “It’s me…”

The door squeaks open, and two bright blue eyes peek out at her. “I know it’s you,” she sighs. “That’s what I’m afraid of.” But she opens the door and lets Jean in. Evidently, the relief at having her best friend back wins out over her better nature, and she sweeps Jean up in a hug before stepping back. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“I didn’t know where else to go.”

“No, that’s not— I mean,” Storm says, “you shouldn’t be…  _ here _ . Alive.”

Oh. “Well it’s not like I  _ campaigned _ for this, I just woke up—”

“I know,” she says apologetically. “I know. It’s just— you being here creates more problems than it solves.” The statement is vague, but Jean’s still hesitant about using her powers so she doesn’t delve any deeper. Ororo— or someone— will tell her what’s going on, eventually. “That being said, I am glad to see you. I missed you.” Ororo’s being so brusque, but Jean can see the strain it’s taking her to remain rational and calm, so she takes a step forward and wraps her best friend in another hug.

This time, Ororo tucks her chin over Jean’s shoulder and clings a little tighter, and if Jean didn’t know any better she might think Storm was crying. The two of them stand there, locked together like they can fill up years of being apart in one embrace, for a long while.

Eventually, Jean tells her, “Really digging the mohawk,” and Storm laughs, and they break apart. “Seriously, though. Glad you brought that back.”

“Glad someone brought  _ you _ back,” Ororo says, and then they’re both laughing, briefly. “Do you know—”

“I have no idea,” Jean says. “No idea who got me here. Which is not… reassuring news, I know.”

“Right,” Ororo nods. “I’m sorry about earlier, I just… some things have happened. Since you… died. Bad things.”

“Like?”

And oh, what to tell her? M-Day, Utopia, Hope. Charles. Logan. The young X-Men. “The Phoenix came back.” Jean nods, like she expected that. “There was… a fight. It ended badly. The Professor was killed.”

Something recoils inside Jean, and now she’s fighting the urge to cry. Of course, it isn’t all that  _ surprising _ . And he’s died before. But somehow, learning this makes the great big school around her filled with people near and dear to her seem so much smaller and emptier.

But she can tell Ororo is holding something back. A lot of somethings. “And?”

“And,” Ororo says, but she seems reluctant to tell Jean more about the Phoenix. “And Logan… lost his healing factor a while back.”

“Oh,” says Jean. “Well, that’s not— I mean, he’s gone without it before, can’t be that—”

“He’s dead, Jean.”

Jean sinks to a seat at the edge of Storm’s bed without really realizing it, static loud in her head. Logan. Unkillable, constant, best-there-is-at-what-he-does Logan. Dead. If it’s possible, this shocks her more than the news about Charles.

She can tell Ororo’s pulling back, ready to cut down on the bombshells for now while Jean recovers, but there’s more she needs to go.

“’Ro,” she says evenly, meeting her friend’s eyes, “what about Scott?”

By noon the next day, Ororo’s explained all she can to Jean— with occasional commentary from Bobby, Betsy and Rachel. Jean’s showered, slept, and changed into some old clothes from the box of her hand-me-downs that Jubilee kept in the attic.

Jubilee now stands across the kitchen from Jean, watching as she makes herself a late brunch of cereal and fruit. “Morning, Jubes,” says Jean, and she’s too stoked to see the older X-woman back that she doesn’t even complain about the nickname. “So how’ve things been with you since…” She doesn’t know what to say. Since she left? Since she died? Since the last time she walked the earth?

“Alright,” Jubilee shrugs. “I’m a vampire. And I have a kid now.”

Jean blinks. “That’s okay,” she says. “That’s okay.”


End file.
